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As the Super Bowl advertising blitz is about to descend upon us this Sunday, companies are eager to get as much value as possible from their 30 to 60-second ads, such as posting them early online for audiences to see before the big game. Well, McDonald's is really thinking outside the box with their attempt, as their Super Bowl commercial announces a near two-week period where the fast food chain will accept acts such as hugs, dancing, or a phone call to mom as payment from customers.

Creating a GIF might seem like witchcraft to the uninitiated, but it’s really not that difficult. Apps like GIFBrewery for OS X make quick work of taking your videos from full-length to looping clips in seconds. Thanks to Imgur, you can do the same with any video, now. Via their GIF creation tool, which is now live, videos from a hosting site like YouTube or Vimeo can become GIFs. Keep in mind that whatever GIF you create becomes public domain.

France is preparing to draft a new law, and under it Google, Twitter, and other tech companies like them would be considered accomplices to hate speech if extremist messages are hosted on their services. The announcement was made on Tuesday by France's President Francois Hollande, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve will be traveling to the United States soon in an effort to build favor among tech companies. This follows the nation's tragic terror attack earlier in January, and the subsequent efforts to squash extremist communications.

Remember that drone discovered on the White House lawn? The Secret Service was looking into the matter and had said it wasn't a safety risk, but concerns quickly spawned that such an incident could serve to further harm the already damaged reputation small-time drones have received -- with all of it coming at the worse time possible as the FAA prepares to rule on drone usage regulations. This particular mystery has already come to an end, and while it was a harmless accident, the cause of it all further tarnishes the personal use of drones in some eyes.

Snapchat is pushing their curated content platform out today. Called ‘Discover’, the new feature makes a home in Snapchat as you know it, but has videos and other media from deep-pocketed outlets instead of your broke friends. Discover can be found vi a small round icon in the top right of the screen, which then redirects you to media from the likes of CNN, Food Network, ESPN, Vice, and People. Like other snaps, the content also vanishes — just not as quickly.

Earlier this month, Nintendo confirmed previous rumors that the new 3DS would be arriving for buyers in the United States next month, and ahead of that launch date pre-orders went up through various retailers. Among the pre-order options is a limited edition Majora's Mask version, something that was being offered by Best Buy, among other places. The February 13 release date is growing ever closer, but for some consumers it won't be quite as happy of an occasion as they anticipated.

Two U.S. passenger flights bound for Atlanta were grounded and searched for bombs after threats were made via Twitter from the account @kingZortic (now suspended). Delta flight 1156 and Southwest flight 2942, from Portland and Milwaukee, respectively, were already in the air when the threats were made. Both planes were escorted by F-16 fighter jets to their landings, and were found clear of explosives or weapons after searches from authorities, while all the passengers were unharmed and safe when exiting the aircrafts.

Uber has again pulled a business move that has garnered controversy, this time by suspending drivers who elected to follow state law rather than company demands. In California, individuals who drive for hire are required to register their cars as commercial vehicles rather than personal ones. Some drivers complied with that requirement, but were give the boot by Uber, which told the drivers they must switch over to personal registration to get their driving privileges back. At least 12 drivers were suspended.

SkyMall, the catalog which has entertained, bemused, but apparently not made quite enough money out of airline travelers over the past years, has filed for bankruptcy, potentially leaving a gaping loss in our seat-back pockets. Parent company Xhibit Corp announced its financial situation today, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and at the same time requesting permission to at least attempt to sell off SkyMall's online business and most of its other assets.

Uber has good news for its faithful users abroad: it has rolled out in a new city and returned to another. Yesterday the ridesharing service announced that is has launched in Nairobi, yet again expanding the number of cities it services with its UberX offering in particular. In addition to rolling out into a new market, Uber also revealed that it has returned to New Delhi, something that follows a ban in the nation after a passenger was raped by a driver.